Harry Potter birthday party

With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one coming out, and the fact that my daughter's birthday was three months ago already, I thought it was about time I posted her Harry Potter Hogwarts birthday party. :) 

I set up a table to look like the Honeydukes Sweets Shop with lollipops, marshmallow wands, Snitch petite fours, and Hedwig owl cupcakes. (I know my fellow Harry Potter fans are disappointed because there aren't any licorice wands, like in the books, but we were on vacation; what can I say?)

Of course we decorated with the red and gold colors of my daughter's favorite house. Go! Go! Gryffindor!


My mom made the owl cupcakes based on the those in the adorable book Hello Cupcake. Since we wanted our owls to look like Hedwig we used butter cream frosting and generic vanilla Oreo's instead of the classic Oreo and chocolate frosting used in the book.

We set up my mom's party tents and had different Hogwarts classes underneath each tent.
In Potions class my husband taught the kids how to make slime using borax and glue. Super easy to make, you can find the recipe here.  This ended up being a huge hit with the adults as well and the kids.

In Charms class my sister gave each kid a sparkler and we practiced different incantations and proper wand waving.

For Quidditch class we used pool noodles as brooms. The birthday girl got to be the Seeker and ran around trying to find the Golden Snitch, a little ball that was hidden in the yard. We even had Chasers, Beaters, and Keepers of sorts. We played with a few 3-year-olds who mostly just ran around; the rest of us tried to play as correctly as Muggles can. Confused? Here is how to play.

 (Here is a different version where someone acts as the snitch and runs around trying not to get caught. It looks like a lot of fun).

 My brother-in-law Jon even made us some really yummy home made Butter Beer (a warm butterscotch/ rootbeer type drink). Really, really yummy! Thanks, Jon!

What a fun time we all had. 

Here is a fun little note: While at the grocery store last week my hubby and daughter got free movie tickets!  Seriously! All they did was stare at the Harry Potter display in the store front and the manager came up and offered free movie tickets to the special pre-opening show. He said he could tell that our daughter was a really BIG fan and thought we would appreciate it. And we do! In fact I'd better go and pick up those tickets right now. :)

Tis the season...

...for glittered felt Christmas trees. I love these trees so much. I made them last year and they were very affordable to make. They turned out so pretty and magical I plan on giving you a tutorial soon so stay tuned. :) 

Also, check out these adorable origami boxes my sister Merrilee made using my tutorial. :)

  She made them for Halloween and put pumpkin cream pies inside, yum! (Ooh what if for Christmas you made gingerbread cream pies, or chocolate with pepermint cream and added crushed candy canes yummmm!)

I was checking out my stats and she has sent quite a few readers over to my blog ever since she linked to my origami boxes and I wanted to share the love and send all of you over to her blog; Mer Mag. So head on over and prepare to be inspired by her loveliness!

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origami advent

Hi there today I'm guest posting over at Whatever Dee Dee Want's.  Go there to see my post about the Fall advent calendar I made.

Felt Flower Tutorial

I have had people asking me to post a tutorial for this felt flower brooch for a while, and I finally got around to making one.  This time I made a yellow one & I really like how it turned out.

 This glittered felt flower is not too hard to make. It's a really great idea to give as a gift, and it fits perfectly into an origami box made with 12in x 12in paper. :)  This project turned out to be difficult to photograph, so I drew it for you. 

You need:

•  glue gun
• felt
• one pearl bead
• glitter
• fastener/brooch pin

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Step one 

• Cut 5 of each size of petal, large, medium and small. (Cut 5 extra large petals to make flower more full.)
• Cut one circle
• cut one scalloped piece

 

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Step two

Glitter each petal and the scalloped piece

 

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 Step three

• Cut middle of each petal almost half way up
• Fold and glue one side to the other
• Repeat till all petals are shaped

 

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Step four

• Glue the largest petals to your circle first
• Glue medium  petals on top of large then small etc...

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Step five

•  Roll the scalloped piece and glue to center of flower
• glue pearl into middle of rolled scalped piece

 Finally attach  brooch pin to the back

And you're done!

Any questions? Just leave a comment. Thanks for stopping by!
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Lovely

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A great idea

Kathleen Frances over at Grosgrain is embellishing knits everyday this month.

 Hey, that's my recycled rosette cardigan!

What a neat and flattering surprise it was to see my photo in her post. :)  

Click the button below to see my tutorial.

Sounds fun right?! I might have to participate too. :) Transforming cardigans was something of an obsession of mine. You know about the rosette cardigan, and this girls hooded jacket, but somehow I kept most of the others to myself & forgot to post them.  I will for sure be checking Kathleen's blog a lot this month. Keep checking back here for more of my embellished knits. :)

Super easy leaf garland tutorial

For a while I have been wishing I had a garland of some kind to hang on the mantle.  I thought of making one out of paper or fabric but I wasn't really loving those ideas.  Then a few days ago I realized a garland with leaves would be perfect.  With no money to spend on a real looking fake one I looked to the dollar store to see if I could get away with a cheap one.  But I was disappointed with the leaves the dollar store had.  Then my daughter brought an armful of maple leaves into the house to make fairy stuff and it hit me, I could make one with real leaves.  That sounds so stupid like I hadn't ever though of that, I did, but because real leaves are so fragile and easily torn I was stumped.  Then the inspiration came to use straws! It sounds strange but you'll see what I mean.

This is a great last minute project, I made it in about twenty minutes. It turned out so pretty and adds that final touch the mantle really needed. I love it! If it lasts long enough I think I'll leave it up till Thanksgiving. The tutorial is below. :)

Here is what you need:

• straws
• leaves
• string
• tape
• scissors

The steps are pictured bellow.

here is is again

1.  cut straws into 3/4 inch pieces
2. tape straws onto back of leaves
3. run a string through straws

I told you it was super easy! :) This might even work with hot glue instead of tape, that way you can get the straw as high as possible on the leaf so they hang more vertical. My leaves tilt forward a tiny bit, I am still very happy with the way it turned out.

With two Halloween parties to prep (one at church and one here) I will probably not be posting till after Halloween. Witch is sad because I wanted to have shared my kids' Halloween costumes by now. Oh well, I'll post them in November I guess. Have a safe and happy Halloween everyone! :)

Edit: Today my leaf garland is very sad looking.  All of my leaves have curled up from drying out.  I thought that being hug up would make them stay fairly flat but no such luck. Unless you make it the day of your party, you will probably want to press your leaves before making this garland.

Halloween decorations

Welcome! Come on in, have a sip of cider, and take a look around at this years Halloween decorations.

My Halloween banner in the entryway greets all guests. The feather wreath I purchased at Christmas time last year is a perfect touch. I say perfect because is is perfect for this spot and also because it was 50 cents.
 Notice the hand crocheted spiderweb and the accumulation of figurines.  I had no idea I had so many.  Good thing I have a nook with exactly five spots. :)

 

The pedestal bowl filled with pumpkins and gourds is a favorite of mine. The mantle was unfinished till I added that. The masked busts are ready for a spooky party to be sure. Black beads adorn the chandelier and a dollar store crow makes it its perch.

Lastly I share the haunted mansion that my super talented girlfriend created from cereal boxes and masking tape. What a treasure.  I am so lucky to have it.

 

 Happy Halloween!!

Tribute to Fall

Gone are the warm autumn days where you sit outside all day.  It is supposed to snow tonight, and it has been raining all weekend.  Hopefully there still a few warm days left this year but I'm not counting on it.

This photo collage is my tribute to those warm autumn days.  I took all of these right from my front porch. :)

a fascination with fairies

If you walked by my house in the morning or late afternoon you would see a blonde little girl either lying in the grass staring at bark or taping leaves together. Her love for all things Harry Potter is not trumped, but put on the shelf for awhile while fairies consume her every free moment. When I have to put home-school on hold while I nurse the baby, she can be found building a fairyland in her room or drawing fairies in her sketchbook.

Pictured above are some of the things I have found lying around the yard.  The other day I found a pixie dust basket filled with glitter, made with leaves and washi tape.  It was so amazingly constructed, but sadly it was not around to be photographed. I assume it dried out and was crushed into dust. (Pixie dust perhaps?!) :(  It looked just like a real basket and if I were a fairy I so would have used that basket!  

When I was little I would lay down and stare into the grass looking at the world like a tiny fairy would have.  I would tape leaves to my dolls for clothes and I would even put the sprinkler on mist for an added effect. How fun it is to see her doing the same things I did as a kid. :)